Cloudlike breath weapons, such as the
green dragon’s chlorine gas, cannot be
negated by a victim who takes the naive
precaution of covering his nose and
mouth. The damage is not accrued solely
by inhaling the gas; the gas is absorbed
into the victim’s system through the skin.
Clothing and armor afford no extra pro-
tection, as the gas can seep through these.
Even a necklace of adaptation is ineffec-
tive, since the gas works on contact.
2. Dragons do not need verbal or somat-
ic components to cast spells. Such spells
are cast at will. Silencing a dragon will not
prevent it from casting spells.
3. This was a snatch attack. A dragon
can only snatch a creature that is two size
classes smaller than it is, so the dragon in
the story would have been a huge crea-
ture at least (over 12’ long). A snatch
attack can only be made against one being
per round while the dragon is in flight.
4. Because dragons are graceful and
competent fliers, they can each fly at three
different speeds. The slower they fly, the
better their maneuverability classes. The
flying speeds and maneuverability classes
of black, blue, green, and red dragons are:
18 (C), 24 (D), and 30 (E). White dragons
have greater flying speeds: 20 (C), 30 (D),
and 40 (E).
5. The dragon undoubtedly performed a
wingover A dragon carrying a rider or
snatched victim cannot perform a
wingover unless the creature or creatures
carried are at least three size classes
smaller than it is.
6. A dragon which is airborne or is at
least 30’ above a target can plummet,
inflicting crushing damage equivalent to
its bite when it strikes. Using this method
of combat, the dragon can crush as many
creatures as its 2nd Edition combat modi-
fier indicates. The dragon rolls a separate
attack against each intended victim; crea-
tures that are missed are assumed to have
escaped. Creatures that are crushed must
save vs. petrification or be pinned under
the dragon, automatically suffering crush-
ing damage the following melee round. If
the dragon chooses to maintain the pin,
the victim must save vs. petrification to get
free. Pinned creatures take crushing dam-
age each minute until they get free. The
dragon’s combat modifier applies as a
bonus or penalty to all saving throws vs.
the crush. A dragon cannot take any other
actions while plummeting or pinning,
except to bite at pinned victims (at a +2
bonus to hit, biting at one victim per
round) or to breathe. If the dragon does
anything else, all victims of its crushing
attack are set free.
7. When a dragon breathes, it cannot
send out its breath weapon again for 1-3
minutes. Roll 1d6: A roll of 1-2 indicates
that the dragon can breathe in the next
melee round; 3-4 indicates that the dragon
can breathe again on the second round
following the breath; and 5-6 indicates that
the dragon can breathe on the third round
following the breath. Allowing a delay will
allow PCs a better survival chance against
dragons, but it is optional.
All dragons can use their breath weap-
ons three times before they must rest to
regenerate the energy for further breaths.
Sleeping 1-4 hours restores the energy to generate one breath weapon, and an addi-
tional 1-4 hours restores both of the
remaining breath attacks simultaneously.
However, most dragons do not automati-
cally wake up after after regaining their
three breath weapons. After the minimum
2-8 hours, a dragon will always sleep an
additional 1-20 hours minus its intelligence
score (treat negative results as zero addi-
tional hours). If the dragon is awakened
during the extended sleep period, it suf-
fers no ill effects. If a dragon tries to sleep
and regain breath weapons more than
once during any 24-hour period, the time
required is doubled (2-8 hours for the first
breath weapon, an additional 2-8 hours for
the two remaining breaths, and 2-40 hours
minus the dragonís intelligence score for
extended sleep).
8. A dragonís tail is an awesome weapon.
A number of creatures equal to one-half
the dragonís age category may be struck
by the tail (round fractions down to a
minimum of one creature). For example, a
juvenile dragon can strike two creatures
with its tail; a great wyrm can strike six.
The tail can strike creatures standing
behind the dragon or to the side of the
dragon as far toward the head as the
dragonís wings. Creatures standing within
5í of the tailís root (the point where the tail
joins the dragonís body) cannot be lashed
with the tail. In one combat round, the
dragon can sweep its tail from right to left
or left to right; it cannot do both. (Thus, all
the targets must be on the same side of
the dragon.)
9. Dragons which can burrow are lim-
ited to burrowing in their preferred envi-
ronment. For example, only blue dragons
can burrow in sand, and only white
dragons can burrow in snow or ice.
10. Dragons can be attacked with the
intent of killing or subduing them. All
dragons except silver and gold can be
subdued. (Brass dragons also are immune
under certain circumstances.) The attack
form must be announced prior to melee;
otherwise, the attack is assumed to be
with intent to kill. Only creatures with an
average intelligence (8-10) or greater can
attack to subdue. In subdual combat, all
damage is of a battering or bruising
nature. However, the dragon can die if the
subdual damage inflicted is equal to two
times its hit points. Attackers must do
more subdual damage than the dragon has
hit points before there is a chance to sub-
due. For every 1% of subdual damage
inflicted over the dragonís hit points, there
is a 1% chance to subdue. DMs should
check for subdual at the end of every
minute of combat. (Subdual damage is not
mentioned in the 2nd Edition rules.)
If a dragon is subdued in melee, the
dragon will not necessarily remain sub-
dued for an extended period. A dragon
will attempt to get away from its master
when it believes it can do so without
endangering its life. How soon a dragon
attempts to escape depends on how it is
treated. Evil dragons will never serve a
good master for long; neither will good
dragons serve evil masters for long.
Subdued dragons are valuable and can
be used as mounts. Such dragons can
usually be sold for 100-800 gp per hit
point.
11. This is an unusual attack method for
white dragons. Because white dragons are
limited in intelligence, only the oldest of
these dragons will have developed such
ruthless and cunning tactics, or have the
ability to pick out ice floes that can be
flipped over.
12. The duration of a white dragonís
freezing fog is based on its age. A wyrmís
freezing fog lasts for 16 rounds, while a
great wyrmís lasts for 17 rounds. See
details as given in the 2nd E
